diabetes - any of several metabolic disorders marked by excessive urination and persistent thirst

autoimmune diabetes, growth-onset diabetes, IDDM, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, juvenile diabetes, juvenile-onset diabetes, ketoacidosis-prone diabetes, ketosis-prone diabetes, type I diabetes - severe diabetes mellitus with an early onset; characterized by polyuria and excessive thirst and increased appetite and weight loss and episodic ketoacidosis; diet and insulin injections are required to control the disease

adult-onset diabetes, adult-onset diabetes mellitus, ketoacidosis-resistant diabetes, ketoacidosis-resistant diabetes mellitus, ketosis-resistant diabetes, ketosis-resistant diabetes mellitus, mature-onset diabetes, maturity-onset diabetes, maturity-onset diabetes mellitus, NIDDM, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, type II diabetes - mild form of diabetes mellitus that develops gradually in adults; can be precipitated by obesity or severe stress or menopause or other factors; can usually be controlled by diet and hypoglycemic agents without injections of insulin

chemical diabetes, latent diabetes - a mild form of diabetes mellitus in which there are no overt symptoms but there are abnormal responses to some diagnostic procedures